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Another Reason Not to Let an Ethics Program Become Moribund

Monday, August 6th, 2012

Robert Wechsler

Here's an all too common scenario: A local government
creates an ethics program after a scandal, and time passes either
without another scandal or with a change of administration. The new
administration sees the ethics program as unnecessary, and decides
not to fund the program and not to replace ethics commission members who resign
or whose terms run out. The ethics program remains on the books, but
there is no training, advice, disclosure, or enforcement of the
ethics code, no active ethics commission, and no budget. And then another scandal comes, and there is no ethics
program to deal with it.

This is basically what has happened in Hamilton Township, NJ. Since
a moribund ethics program is not a newsworthy issue, it was ignored
by the press. It is the opposition party (the one that pushed the
ethics program in the first place) that is calling
for the ethics program to be revived (it's not clear whether
the party called for this before the latest scandal).

The moral of the story? Never assume (or act as if you truly
believe) that because everything is fine, your community doesn't
need an ethics program. If someone argues this, citizens should
point out that no one knows whether everything is fine or not, and
that it apears self-serving for those in power to say so, especially
since they may very well know or suspect that the facts are
otherwise.

The new scandal is cookie cutter. According to an
article in the Trenton Times, the mayor was charged with taking $12,400 to influence a no-bid school health
insurance contract. He has been charged with attempted extortion,
which is a lot harder to prove than soliciting and accepting a gift
from someone seeking benefits from the township.